Thursday, 14 March 2013

The game is afoot as we reach Psycho-Pass' penultimate episode with Kogami and Tsunemori racing to be the first to reach and deliver their own visions of justice to Makishima - oh, and saving the country from starvation into the bargain.

With Kogami unable to bypass the biometric security required to enter the facility where Makishima is crafting his virus, it seems as if he's already realised that Akane is smart enough to keep with him, and thus he's happy for her to take the lead by using the MWPSB's influence to shut off all power to the complex - a move which also disables all of its security. Thus, the race is well and truly on to capture the culprit at the heart of events - but what will his next move by with no power to any of the systems that he requires to complete his plan?

Akane is convinced that rather than run, Makishima will head to the control room to manually reboot the plant's power, and thus heads off there while sending Ginoza and Masaoka to cut off any escape routes he might have. It comes as rather a surprise therefore when we reach said control room to find no sign of either Makishima or Ginoza... has Akane miscalculated something? Indeed she has, and that something is the kind of nefarious deeds that Makishima is willing to carry out to achieve his goals, which in turn sets us up for a tumultuous finale...

For all of its occasionally heavy-handed moments of proselytizing about the freedom of the people, the importance of true justice and so on, this was another rip-roaring episode of Psycho-Pass that showcases everything that has been so great about the series - the strength of some of its main characters, the excellent realisation of its crime drama roots, and that blending of crime drama with bursts of action, emotion and, yes, those monologues and reference-heavy debates between characters. Am I hyped for the finale of the series? You bet I am, and Psycho-Pass remains the best anime of the past six months and probably beyond in my book.